1997/02/01 by Carl E. Bock · 1 citation
Environmental Science · #Avian ecology and behavior #Rangeland and Wildlife Management #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
paper · pdf · doi:10.2307/1370218
openalex publication_date 1997/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Joseph Grinnell, first Director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, was a dedicated and remarkably prescient conservationist, as well as a pioneer western ornithologist. He was one of the first to recognize that birds have particular value in conservation because of their charisma, familiarity, and sensitivity to environmental conditions. History has proven Grinnell right, as evidenced by the influence of birds and ornithology in efforts to protect species and their habitats. However, threats to natural landscapes in western North America continue on a scale even Grinnell might not have predicted. Ornithologically-based conservation efforts must be re-doubled, focused on subjects such as landscape and metapopulation models specifically for western habitats, the use of large-scale data sets, the genetic structure of species and populations, avian responses to environmental stressors and disease, and studies of birds in winter.